It’s Monday afternoon, and all I can think about is baseball. The World Series is upon us and seeing as the majority of baseball fans I know are Yankees and Red Sox fans, they now don’t care. The Red Sox fans care until the Yankees are out of the post season and vice versa unless their own teams are in it. For Yankee fans, it all ends when their team is done in the playoffs, simple, Yankees or bust.

I think we may be in for a great World Series, one similar to that of the Indians and Marlins back in 1997, a seven gamer, one where game seven will be for all the marbles. Its gonna be the big bats of the Rangers vs the big Giant Pitching. Offense vs Defense, good vs evil, no wait that was last series, but you get the picture.

Problem is who will be watching? This seems to be a re-occuring theme that people ask. Yankees and Phillies fans probably have now moved on to the Knicks, Rangers, Flyers, Eagles, Jets, Giants, and maybe even the Islanders. Others like in Seattle or LA probably won’t rush to get home for 5pm PST to watch the games that are on in prime time here. Lord knows that Red Sox fans gave up on watching in mid September. The only thing left, die hard baseball fans and lets not forget the #5 and #6 TV markets in the United States of America. Dallas -Fort Worth and San Fransisco-Oakland San Jose make up these stats. Sure its not #1 and #4 like New York and Philly are but there will be ratings to be had. Another fellow PSB blogger mentioned that FOX is probably upset with this matchup, I agree but who cares. For the Fan this will be a series worth watching. Ratings might even go up now that the traditional fan who refuse to watch the Yankees in the World Series will tune in.

Maybe it this matchup will even make some people in the Bay Area actually care about baseball some more. No knock on the Giants, their fans are great, but for the other casual fan in that area and surrounding it it may be something that gets them hooked back into baseball. The Giants “Torture Chamber” season coming down to the final regular season game, and that final inning against the Phillies, makes for great TV. The suspense, the hype, the highs, the lows, the gut wrench. This is what true playoff baseball is all about. Not the drama of if Kate Hudson and A-Rod are still an item. Pure and simple nothing beats baseball drama and suspense in October, not even a haunted house on Halloween.

How about in Texas. Futility with the Astros and Rangers. You don’t think the entire state of Texas is now pulling for the home state team to win it all. The average fan will love the tale of a small market team going to the biggest stage in baseball trying to win it all against the odds. A team that no one gave a damn about is now the hottest ticket in the state. Add that the Dallas Cowboys are terrible this year and that sports focus is deservedly on baseball where it should be in Texas right now, will make viewership go up. Everyone loves a winner, especially in Texas. Nolan Ryan and his ownership group need to be given some credit for changing the image and attitude of the team around this season amongst all the ownership turmoil. Maybe most importantly out of this whole thing is that the Rangers may have built a more stronger fan base with this season and all the changes.

I know its a long blog but just some thoughts. In all honesty I just want to see a great series, a seven game knock em out kind of series. A series where we see some hate between players. The storylines are there for the taking. I will do a World Series Preview before game one but for now these were just some thoughts on how good this series is for fans of both teams and for baseball in general. For the record, I do not care what team wins this series, I just want to see some great baseball be played for the rest of the world to watch and see just how good this game can be.

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Written by George Kouvalis
A huge fan of sports who loves to travel for major events. I've seen my fair share of major games and events including three Olympics, Wimbledon, The Masters etc.... Always up for a road trip or a drink to talk over sports or pro wrestling, in any city I am in or online. Favorite Teams: Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Bulls, San Francisco 49ers, Toronto Argonauts, Manchester United, and of course the teams I blog for, the Texas Rangers and Buffalo Sabres. Follow me on twitter at the handle georgekouvalis

2 Comments

In response to “Some Pre World Series Thoughts”

A little harsh on the Yankees fans there, George, no? Considering three of the Giants coaches and GM have roots in the Bronx, I’m pulling for SF. Namely because I think Dave Righetti has done an amazing job with the pitching staff and deserves a ring. Any true baseball fan, regardless of who they root for, will be watching the World Series.

I’m a baseball fan first, a Phillies fan second and a writer third… wait…a writer first… oh well… Anyway… I agree with a lot of what George stated regarding true baseball fans being the ones watching this World Series. Sadly, the reality is that the world we live in is not run by pure baseball fans – myself included amongst pure baseball fans – enjoying a World Series well-played. 2009 featured NY Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies and ratings were relatively imprved from Phillies-Tampa Bay in 2008 or Boston-Colorado in 2007. Even Detroit-St. Louis in 2006 was a bust outside of those inherent markets. TV Networks care about ratings because of advertisers and while Dallas and SF might be #5 and #6 markets… it reminds me more of the Houston-Chisox Series in 2005. Despite Chicago being a #3 media market and Houston being no slouch… there was almost no interest amongst baseball fans who were not speficially Astros fans or White Sox fans.

This is part of the fallouty when FOX markets only the marquee weekly matchups of Yankees-Red Sox, Dodgers-Anges, Mets-Yankees, Cubs-Cardinals, Cubs-White Sox, etc. Were FOX truly committed to promoting MLB coverage, they would focus on the entire scope of the game, realizing that there are compelling rivalries outside of the large TV markets. Why are there Cubs fans in Arizona? Why are the Baltimore Orioles popular in Florida? Why wasn’t the SD-SF series to clinch the NL West broadcast coast to coast? Why does FOX only care about All-Star Games and playoffs? Why do the Green BayPackers have a fan base far beyond the Wisconsin borders? Why does the NFL always beat MLB in head-to-head ratings? Because the league and the broadcasters have found a way to tell the story of the whole league!

If FOX and TBS can’t committ to baseball, they should leave it for MLB Network or ESPN because each has done a much better job in the past and BOTH are clearly better equipped. FOX won’t pre-empt “quality programming” like “When Dumb Blonde Apprentice Survivor Chefs Attack” nor will they show games on certain days of the week. FOX’s schedule seems more important than that of MLB. Remember when there were World Series games televised in the afternoon – usually on weekends? Kids could watch and families could attend games. There were no off days between Game 1 and 2 or and 5 due to TV programming! It didn’t take 12 days to play a 6-game series!!!

FOX better hope that George is right and that casual fans will tune in for good baseball. Fans better hope that FOX gets terrible ratings so that MLB Network or ESPN will be able to buy the package and do it correctly!!!! Give MLB Network credit… they have had 24-hour pre-game and post-game coverage AND they have settled for replays of the games the following day. If that’s not committment, what is? Besides, it is the MLB Network!!!! They spend all year analyizing and educating the public displaying fundamentals of the game, history, encouraging us to embrace the tapestry of the game and trying to prove that baseball has a rich and stories future to compliment its past. Time’s up FOX, you failed!!